Saturday, March 15, 2014

10-0 Meets 0-10

by Avry Lewis-McDougall

The Edmonton Rush are re-writing the NLL record books with every new win. The now 10-0 club has a start that may not be matched for a long time to come.

With this type of history being made Mr. Mike Wilson and myself once asked, what's the complete opposite of a start like this? Many moons ago I touched on them briefly in an article for the blog, but the team that would be the anti 2014 Rush,would have to be the 1996 Charlotte Cobras.

0-10. That was how Charlotte finished their only season in the MILL. They were all kinds of awful and reached depths so low that I don't think any other team in the NLL could ever reach even if they tried.

Just how bad were the Cobras? Well let me show you some numbers....

-They scored only 85 goals, while giving up 186. Meaning that they on average lost by about 10 goals a game. No other team in the MILL that year scored less than 125 or even came close to allowing 180 goals.

-Pat McCready who would go on to a have a long and very successful MILL/NLL career led the team in scoring as a rookie. How many points did he have? 25. That's not a joke. No other player on the team would get to 20 points.

-Charlotte gave up 20 or more goals 4 times in a game, with the worst example being a 28-6 loss to the Buffalo Bandits.

-Speaking of Buffalo, John Tavares in 1996 had 81 points, his assist totals alone would have led the Cobras in scoring (40 assists).

Looking at these stats it wouldn't have shocked me if they found a way to have played inter-squad games where both teams lost.

There was one claim to fame that was not entirely negative, the Cobras once held the distinction of being the southermost franchise in league history (a mark now held by the now defunct Orlando Titans).

Without a doubt the Cobras were the furthest thing from this year's Rush, although maybe the NLL just for fun should hold an exhibition game between the two sqauds to see what the score would be.

My guess? 25-3 Edmonton. At halftime. The Rexall Place scoreboard would not be able to handle what the final score may be.